1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses and methods consistent with the present invention relate to providing a service environment specialized for each user, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for providing a user-adapted service environment by managing an authenticated user profile.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a home network is implemented by a private network based on the Internet Protocol (IP). A variety of machines such as all types of personal computers (PC), intelligent devices, and wireless devices, which are used within a home, are connected and controlled through the home network based on a virtual common computing environment referred to as middleware.
Middleware connects various digital devices in peer-to-peer networks so that digital devices communicate with each other. Home Audio/Video Interoperability (HAVI), UPnP, Java intelligent network infrastructure (Jini), Home Wide Web (HWW), Open Services Gateway initiative (OSGi), etc., have been suggested as middleware.
Network devices included in a home network are classified as control devices which control other network devices, and controlled devices which provide predetermined service according to the control of the control device. If a home network is implemented through UPnP, network devices included in the home network are classified as a control point (CP) and a controlled device (CD).
Control devices and controlled devices use an IP address assigned by a dynamic host configuration protocol (hereinafter, referred to as “DHCP”) server or selected by an automatic IP designating function (Auto IP) and are connected to one another through a Peer-to-Peer type network.
When a control point and a controlled device are activated in a home network, the controlled device transmits its device information and service information to the control point. Thus, the control point can recognize the function of the controlled device through the device information and the service information provided from the controlled device. Accordingly, a user can check a service list provided by the controlled device and use a service provided by the controlled device using the control point.
However, according to the related art, a control device provides a service list of a controlled device to a user by simply enumerating information transmitted from the controlled device. As a result, the user should search for a desired service whenever using the control point even if the desired service is a user's favorite service.
Moreover, according to the related art, a user should set his/her preferred environment values (e.g., screen brightness, volume, and screen aspect ratio) for using a device whenever using a service provided by a specific controlled device using a control point.
Korean Patent Publication No. 2003-62735 discloses a method for supplying user interface of a home network system, in which user-set items for controlling an operation of a home network device are extracted from a description file received from the home network device, a user interface (UI) table is formed by combining the extracted user-set items, and the user-set items of the UI table are displayed on a manipulation panel according to a user's key manipulation. In the disclosed technique, a script parser or an extensible markup language (XML) parser is not included, and thus, the user can easily receive information of home network devices using a remote control even in a display environment where a browser is not available. However, the disclosed technique does not provide a service environment specialized for each user, thereby requiring the user to always search for a desired service and set his/her preferred environment values.